Entertaining flick about a few survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Paul Birch plays a scientist holed up in a house with his daughter, Lori Nelson. Touch (Mike) Connors, pre-Mannix, and Adele Jergens, post-menopausal, crash the party. Rugged Richard Denning arrives shortly afterwards, carrying the slowly-mutating Paul Dubov, who inexplicably has a Moe Howard haircut. The last to arrive is Raymond Hatton, along with his mule. I am not counting the three-eyed creature as part of the cast, although it is played by Paul Blaisdell, special effects "genius." Jonathan Haze, a member of Corman's stock players, has a quick bit as another mutation. Nelson pines for her lost love, played by Roger Corman (that's Corman in the photograph we keep seeing). However, she quickly gets interested in Denning. Meanwhile, Connors also wants a piece of the action, much to the dismay of Jergens. Denning and Connors have a few fist fights, and Jergens pretends to strip. Not good. While all this conflict is going on, Dubov continues to mutate and Hatton makes booze. There are some interesting ideas in this movie. The three-eyed creature seems to be able to communicate with Nelson - hmmm, might he be someone she knows? Dubov must eat contaminated food to survive. Birch wants the women to get pregnant so they can re-populate the earth. And the purifying rain saves the day. At the end (which is "The Beginning"), two survive. Guess who. Chet Huntley narrates. David Brinkley was unavailable.
Review of Day the World Ended
